The CLARITY Act 2.0 rewrite — an industry label, not an official bill title — arrives at the one date its backers most wanted to beat: with polls open in the US midterms, the market-structure bill that failed Senate cloture in September still has no new vote scheduled, and the calendar is now working against it.
How the first CLARITY Act collapsed
H.R. 3633 passed the House 294-134 in July 2025 and cleared Senate Banking 15-9 in May, but Senate cloture failed 49-50 on September 15, 2026. Two sticking points sank it: ethics concerns that the bill’s divisions did not stop a sitting president from profiting from digital assets, and community-bank objections to stablecoin rewards that look a lot like interest on deposits.
What CLARITY Act 2.0 actually is
The rewrite is being built on updated substitute text published by Sen. Cynthia Lummis, incorporating work from the Senate Banking and Agriculture committees. The crown-jewel fight remains stablecoin yield: the failed Senate text barred interest or interest-like rewards purely for holding a stablecoin while allowing rewards for genuine use, following the March Tillis-Alsobrooks agreement brokered with White House involvement. Meanwhile the GENIUS Act’s licensing regime takes effect January 18, 2027 whether Congress finishes its homework or not.
The closing window
Two deadlines loom. Advocates argued market-structure legislation had to pass before today’s midterms, fearing a shifted balance of power in the 120th Congress would slash the odds. Second, the 119th Congress ends January 3, 2027 and unenacted bills expire — leaving the lame-duck session as the remaining theoretical path. Lummis herself said after the failed vote that “if cloture failed, it’s over.” Watch for full substitute text, a Banking markup under Chairman Tim Scott, and floor time from Leader Thune.
Status as of November 1 shows nothing formally moved since September 15; that timeline rests on trade-press reporting (congress.gov was unreachable for direct verification).
